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Sunday, November 17, 2013

International Encounter-Fire on the High Seas

German raider Kormoran

Next Tuesday, November 19, forms the 72nd
anniversary of a mutually destructive sea battle off the coast of Australia, in
which two war vessels were destroyed and sunk.It was on Wednesday November 19, 1941 that the German raider “Kormoran”
and the Australian cruiser “Sydney” met in the Indian Ocean off the coast of
Western Australia, and at the end of a fierce battle lasting less than an hour,
both ships were totally destroyed.

As
a result of this disastrous engagement, three radio stations in Australia were
ordered off the air for a temporary period of time; a mystery broadcast from
the United States compounded the situation; and multitudes of conspiracy
theories abounded regarding wireless communications from the two competing war
vessels.

It
will take three episodes for us to present this long and interesting
information, and so here in Wavescan today, we present Part 1, under the title:
International Encounter - 1, Fire on the High Seas. We begin with the backgrounds of the two
competing war vessels.

The
Australian light cruiser, HMAS “Sydney”, was laid down at Wallsend-on-Tyne on
the east coast of England, almost against the border with Scotland, on July 8,
1933. This ship was ordered by the Royal
Navy under the original name, (His Majesty’s Ship) HMS “Phaeton”. However, even before construction was
completed, the ship was bought by the Australian government for use in the
Royal Australian Navy and renamed (His Majesty’s Australian Ship) HMAS
“Sydney”.

The
new “Sydney” was launched on September 22 of the next year, 1934, by Ethel
Bruce, the wife of Australia’s ex-Prime Minister Stanley Bruce. The ship saw service in the Mediterranean,
Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, before the tragic conflict off the coast
of Western Australia seven years later.

The
ship “Kormoran” was launched at Kiel in Germany on September 15, 1938, as a
merchant cargo vessel under the original name, “Steiermark”, apparently in
honor of a state in Austria. After the
outbreak of war in continental Europe in September 1939, the “Steiermark” was
converted from merchant cargo usage to a merchant raider and renamed
(Handelsstorkreuzer) HSK “Kormoran” in honor of a Russian ship in use by
Germany during World War 1, and the seabird Cormorant.

The
“Kormoran”, though loaded with guns and ammunition and a small airplane, was
disguised as a merchant ship, and beginning in 1940, it sailed the Atlantic and
Indian Oceans. Under its apparently
peaceful guise, the “Kormoran” was successful in the destruction of nine cargo
vessels and the capture of another during its nearly two year long tour before
the fateful encounter with the “Sydney”.

In
November 1941, the “Sydney” was on a return voyage from the Dutch East Indies,
Indonesia, bound south in the Indian Ocean near towards the Australian
coastline, and headed for the Australian navy base at Fremantle in Western
Australia. The “Kormoran” was also in
the Indian Ocean, heading eastwards towards Perth with the intent of laying
mines in nearby coastal waters.

At
3:55 pm on that fateful day, Wednesday November 14, 1941, both ships sighted
each other; the German “Kormoran” and the Australian “Sydney”. In the distant haze of a beautiful Spring
day, the “Kormoran” at first mistook the “Sydney” as a tall sailing ship. However, when the “Kormoran” realized that
she was facing what was at the time a hostile enemy war vessel, she turned west
facing directly into the sun and moved away at her high speed, just 16
mph. Meanwhile, the “Sydney” also
increased her speed, up to 29 mph.

These
events began to take place a hundred miles off the coast of Western Australia,
straight out from Carnarvon). As the two
ships began to travel parallel to each other at a distance of ¾ mile, the
“Sydney” signaled at first by lamp in Morse Code, and then by flags, asking for
identification, destination and cargo.
The “Kormoran” playing for time, finally identified itself in its
disguise as a Dutch freighter, the “Straat Malakka”.

At
5:00 pm, the “Kormoran” sent out a fake radio message in Morse Code, “QQQQ
Straat Malakka”, indicating that it was being approached by a raiding
vessel. This message was heard by
several different radio operators, on land and on the sea. However, the “Sydney” maintained radio
silence, as previously ordered by navy headquarters.

Half
an hour later, when the two ships were just ¼ mile apart, the “Kormoran”
dropped its camouflage and the Dutch flag, hoisted the German war flag, and a
barrage with high explosive ammunition began between the two ships, though it
is not clear to this day which ship fired first. Thus began a firefight on the high seas that
lasted just one hour.

Both
ships were totally crippled; the “Sydney” passed astern of the “Kormoran” and
then moved away towards Fremantle in the south east, traveling into the
darkness, though the glowing of the fires on the distant ship was seen for a
total of 2½ hours. Ultimately, as some
German survivors reported, there was a brilliant flash on the distant horizon,
and then just total darkness.
Photographs of the underwater wreck show the bow completely blown off,
separated from the main hull, and upside down.

At
8:00 pm Captain Theodor Detmers of the “Kormoran” ordered “abandon ship”; and
at 11:30 pm the last of the surviving crew, including Captain Detmers, pulled
off in small boats. A massive explosion
with flames 1,000 feet high scuttled the “Kormoran” which broke into two pieces
and then disappeared beneath the waves.
Both ships were now at the bottom of the ocean, 1½ miles down.

Aboard
the “Kormoran” were nearly 400 men, and a little more than 300 survived. Some were plucked out of their lifeboats by
passing ships, and others successfully made their way in their small craft to
the Western Australian coastline, a little north of Carnarvon.

The
“Sydney” personnel were not so fortunate.
There were nearly 650 men aboard the “Sydney”, and not one survived,
making it the largest naval tragedy in Australian history. Strategists have estimated that 70% of the
personnel were killed in the massive bombardment, and it is probable that all
of the small floatable escape craft were also destroyed. It is possible though
that some men were thrown into the waters; but if so, they would have
ultimately perished when no rescue was possible.

Two
weeks from now, we are planning to present the next episode in this sequence,
and you will hear more of the radio story in association with all of these tragic
events.